Ugh. I can't believe I've clocked 80 hours on this game on first playthrough. Is it just me, or are RPGs just getting longer and longer? Sometimes I think games just add random content to pad things out so they can brag about 60+ hours story or whatever. You can have a much shorter game, and still have a fulfilling experience with it.

Persona4 has really been a lot of fun, though. I played P3 in normal difficulty, and P4 in normal as well. I think they really streamlined a lot of combat elements, but I'm really dissappointed that the "knock down" AI command isn't there anymore. The AI for your party seems to be a lot smarter about knockdowns, but there are times when I'd rather have them just go for the knockdown instead of dragging the fight out one or two more rounds by healing or attacking or some other wacky crap. I know that's what the direct commands are for, but I'd still rather be able to put one character on knockdown and not worry about it. I know why the devs chose to give people control over the other characters again, and that's great. I do like to use the computer AI sometimes too, though.

Overall, though, I'm happy with most of the combat choices. You can say the game has been simplified, but it's taken a lot of frustration out of the fights for me. Blasting a multi-target element spell that only 1 mob out of 4 are weak to will still give your characters one extra attack. Your party members can do all sorts of great stuff with high enough S Links now... like pick each other up off the ground or cure status ailments or.. just not die at least once XD

While I'm all about story driven games and character development and all that, I think it's funny I really fixed on the combat changes on this one. I really do enjoy watching the other party members grow. It's become increasingly annoying that the player character is treated like this magic god type guy who swept into the big city and made everyone fart unicorns and rainbows, though. And OMFG.. Did Johnny Young Bosch voice both Adachi AND your protagonist? Because I swear that's him yelling out all sorts of random persona names. That's great. I hope I'm not spoiling anything in the game by figuring this out like 70 hours ago :P (I'm at the last story dungeon in December, so don't ruin things in comments for other people on my flist who haven't gotten that far yet, please)

One of the megaten universe communities here on LJ was talking about the special P4 "expansion pack" that you could get. It didn't have any actual game expansion, but it had a bunch of really cool ltd. edition goodies. I heard they were expensive and hard to get, and I didn't bother tracking a pack down because I hadn't played the game yet. I'm geeking out over it a little bit now, though. (Seriously though.. look around for the Persona 4 Social Link Expansion Pack- They're upwards of 100 bucks for a plush of one of the characters, a CD soundtrack, T-shirt and Calendar. Holy crap! XP )

While I haven't really seriously worked on a costume since mid-summer, I can't really say I'm struck by any sort of inspiration on this one... but I do like the girl's designs better this time around. Rangda would still be a lot of fun. And I'd get a lot of rooster hackles. I really think I'm getting ready to put cosplay behind me, though. I don't have a local group of freinds to do it with anymore, and I'm running out of room to store anything new that I'd just wear 3-4 times and forget about. That's a whole other story, though.

Edit:I also wanted to mention that I was seriously dissappointed that I couldn't get into a serious relationship with Kanji. I'LL BE ALL THE MAN YOU NEED BABY!

I'd thought about selling some of my old stuff, but I cut so many corners I can't see anyone else wanting my ghetto crap.. and even then... I'm so attached to it I don't think I'd be happy with the prices I'd have to settle for XD I wouldn't want to charge less than 175.00 for Gogo, but in order for me to make it to a point where I wouldn't be embarassed to sell it, I'd have to put a few more hours of work into it making all the closures non-ghetto. It's srsly held together by elastic, tying things together, and safety pins. There is a buckle clip under the chin for the hat, though :X All things considered, though, I'd be lucky to get 50 bucks for it from someone, and it'd still hurt to see someone else wearing it... and that's assuming anyone else would even want the costume. lol

I've had bad experiences with custom commissions.. I'd hate to see someone miswearing somthing I've worn many times :X Or even competing in it or whatever. I guess ultimately it doesn't even really matter, but the thought of selling off these things I've cut so many corners on just kinda squiks me out.